The Simple Year 3: Blog Handoff Number 2

As you may (or may not) know, The Simple Year is a blog that documents year-long simple living projects. I am the first blogger to take the helm after Kerry.

I can’t believe that the 1 year mark of our simple year is nearing. I have had so much fun, learned a ton, and gotten a lot of work done around our home and in our lives. I’ve still got a lot left to say in the next month (or maybe a little bit more), but it’s time to plan for The Handoff to the blogger of The Simple Year 3.

Are you that blogger?

As Kerry previously wrote, the rules for the Handoff are pretty straight forward:

Do you have something to say?

Right now The Simple Year has about 1000 subscribers, YEAH for those people!  (RSS and email) and has had close to 700,000 page views since Kerry started it.  Would you like to tell your story to them?

The Simple Year 2 was featured in The Texas Lawyer (blog and print) and was named The Top Simplicity Blog for 2013 by Midway Simplicity. Let’s keep the ball rolling!

At the end of May, Kerry and I would like to pass this blog to someone who can tell the next chapter in this story.  Their project doesn’t have to be the same as ours (or it could be), it just has to be some sort of attempt at simplicity.

I will technically be done with my Simple Year on May 20th, 2014, but I will continue to blog until my replacement is found.  Ideally, I would like to introduce my replacement in May (to start blogging June 1st), but am willing to wait until I have found the exact right person.  The new blogger will have one-year from that date in which they are the author of The Simple Year.

Vision for the Blog

Kerry’s vision for this blog is to offer a descriptive first person narrative in an honest but entertaining and humorous fashion.  When I took over, I tried to be open and honest — basically, I tried to open my front door and invite you all in.  The Simple Year isn’t about what you SHOULD be doing (there are lots of blogs out there for that), but rather what you actually ARE doing.

Don’t worry if you’ve never really done anything like this before and don’t know how to post things online or how the software works.  The fact that you have actually managed to navigate the internet to this page is all the knowledge you need.  The rest is actually pretty easy and Kerry and I will show you everything you need to know. (Seriously. I’d never used WordPress before and I had Kerry on speed dial when I started.)

The most important thing is compelling content.  You have to be a good storyteller.

Interested?  I’d love to hear from you. Please include:

1. The description of your project

Tell me about your year-long project, describe yourself and any other participants. I would like to hear anything you think relevant.  If you were writing an “About Me” page, what would you include?  Please also include the frequency at which you plan to post  (how many times a week or month).  I will expect you to follow through on this commitment, so think it through carefully.  For planning purposes, I will share that I allow three-four hours for each blog post I write.

2. At least two samples of your work

These samples can be potential blog posts or unrelated piece of writing that showcase the style you would use.  If you plan to focus on some other type of medium like photos, drawings, interpretive dance, please include samples of those as well.

Once you gather those things, please send them to Kerry at kerry 3835 at yahoo dot com AND me at kandice bridges at sbcglobal dot net.  (Although, type it like an email address and squish everything together.)

Or if you have questions, feel free to email or use the Contact Me form.

Additional Details from Kerry

  • I’ll probably have some sort of Memorandum of Understanding put together for us to work together, just so all of the expectations and specifics are written down for both sides.
  • The Simple Year has a Facebook page, I will still own it but make you an administrator and you can manage it however you choose over the course of the next year.  I won’t contribute unless asked.
  • You will own your written content, photos and video and I will own mine.  I still own “The Simple Year” title.
  • I will continue to pay for the domain name and hosting fees for the duration of your year.  The site was created using Word Press and is a free application
  • No money making with the site of any kind including, but not limited to, things like advertisements (even for used things) testimonials, giveaways, or things I haven’t thought of.  I think since we are about simplifying, we should take the high road and abstain from all schilling.   The exception would be if you were to publish a book associated with your project.
  • If you commit to a specific frequency of posts, (i.e. 3 times a week), you must follow through on that promise.  It is my personal pet peeve when bloggers are silent for weeks at a time and suddenly reappear and say something like, “Sorry you haven’t heard from me in a while, but__________” insert appropriate excuse there.
  • Currently the blog has over 700,000 page views, and around 1000  subscribers.  I monitor those through Jetpack and Feedburner.  I can show you how that works.   Ideally over the year, you will help grow those numbers, so your potential replacement will have an even bigger audience.
  • I don’t care where you live in this great big world, but the blog has to be written in English please, mainly because I can’t read any other languages and I’m selfish like that.
  • Stay on topic.  Yes, I am sure the guy who cut you off in traffic is a funky mothertrucker, but if it is not directly related to the project, try to abstain from posting about it, even if it’s the greatest paragraph you have ever authored.
  • I don’t pay you and you don’t pay me.  This is a strictly volunteer gig both ways, our contribution to the world.

Not personally interested?  No worries, but if you think it’s a good idea, please forward it to your friends.  We’re hoping to find someone unexpected and exceptional.

Kerry’s original post about the first hand-off can be found here.


3 Responses to The Simple Year 3: Blog Handoff Number 2

  1. I have learned so much and been so inspired by the 1.5 years I have been a reader. Loved Kerry and now Kandice…maybe if my name started with K I would be inspired to try to be #3! lol. I have embraced minimalism and simplicity and frequently post these on my facebook page, much to the dismay of my daughter. I was, and am, a queen of organizing and I wish I could help organize people, but we live in a small town and not much call for it. I have come to see, an emiphany really, that organizing is not the answer I thought it was….that simplifying is! I love less choices and am trying to help my husband buy into this…he did help me go through the kitchen one day and agreed that we did not need 12 spatulas and 6 sets of measuring spoons, but when it comes to clothes, tools, man-junk, he is not on board yet. I don’t hound him (yet) but remind him that we will soon be able to downsize and why wait! Let’s get rid of stuff now so when we can sell our house and move into something without 3 bathrooms (some people’s dream – no longer mine!) and three floors (3 vacuums too), we will not have so much to do. You girls have been so helpful and I look forward to whomever comes next! Thank you so much, Dara

  2. I hope you find a great replacement. I look forward to it. I dream of simplifying, but am not quite ready to take the plunge this year. We have a million baby toys and clothes but haven’t quite given up hope that a baby will come to live here and need them. All this will shake out over the next year and I WILL be ready to rid this home of clutter.

  3. This is so tempting! It would be a wonderful incentive to have everyone looking over my shoulder watching what I’m doing. Two things are stopping me. My husband doesn’t want me, ahem, over sharing 😉 and I’m recently messed up my shoulders. While my back hurt, I could compensate but with my shoulders out, I’m not sure I could do it.

    um, maybe I better think about this some more. . . . I think the garage alone would take the full year!

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